War memorials

France: Monument de la Victoire, Verdun

Architect: Léon Chesney
Location: rue Mazel, Verdun, France

The Monument de la Victoire in the rue Mazel, to the north-east of the Cathedral, stands at the top of a monumental flight of 73 steps. Unveiled in 1929, it consists of a helmeted stone figure of Victory, with a sword, standing on the stepped top of a tall sloping pylon. The sculptor was Jean Boucher; the architect L. Chesney. The pylon is flanked by Russian cannons captured from the Germans, and it contains a crypt which can be visited. J.-M. de Busscher notes that this “Guerrier Gaulois” bears a strange resemblance to Hugo Lederer’s Bismark monument in Hamburg of 1902.

Gavin Stamp